Brothel Study Committee Should Look at the REAL Problem

(September 11, 2019) – Bree Zender of KUNR inked a new article on Tuesday related to Nevada’s legal brothels and the moral crusade of a particularly creepy Reno lawyer who wants to shut them down.

As Ms. Zender notes, because Las Vegas is promoted as “Sin City” – including its iconic slogan of “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” – many tourists believe prostitution is legal on the Las Vegas Strip.

It’s not.

Sex-for-fee legal and regulated brothels only exist in a handful of rural Nevada counties – not the major urban counties of Clark (Las Vegas) and Washoe (Reno).

But in an absurd leap of tortured logic, Jason “Creepy” Guinasso, and a handful of former sex workers are trying to make the case that the existence of legal brothels FAR from the Strip and America’s Biggest Little City “attracts illegal sex trafficking to the state.”

Which is like saying the existence of Walgreen’s and CVS attracts illegal drug dealers.

In any event, these moralist crusaders – who just can’t bring themselves to live and let live – have filed a federal lawsuit claiming Nevada’s legal brothels violate the federal Mann Act prohibiting interstate travel for “immoral purposes.”

One of the plaintiffs making this claim, Rebekah Charleston (a.k.a. Rebekah Kay Dean, a.k.a., Nicole A. Wilson), has been claiming – without proof or corroboration – that while she was working as an illegal prostitute in Dallas and Las Vegas her street pimp sent her to work in legal Nevada brothels as a form of punishment.

Although no one can find any record of her EVER working in a legal brothel, here are the facts…

To work in a legal brothel adult women need to apply for a work card from the local sheriff and subject themselves to a rigorous FBI background check, including fingerprinting.

IF … and that’s a big *if* … Charleston-Dean-Wilson was ever forced by her street pimp to work in a legal brothel she would have had to lie on her work applications. The same way she lied to the IRS on her tax returns which resulted in time behind bars.

By the way: Isn’t it curious that Ms. Charleston-Dean-Wilson never says specifically when she supposedly worked in a legal brothel and never names her alleged trafficker even though she’s been free from him for over a decade? Her story just doesn’t add up.

In any event, if she lied to the sheriff and lied to the brothel you can’t blame the sheriff or the brothel. And that is decidedly NOT a reason to shut down Nevada’s legal, licensed, regulated and SAFE brothels.

As for Guinasso, Ms. Zender notes that he’s “attempted to ban brothels in multiple Nevada counties through ballot questions and petitions, though those attempts have failed.”

In an effort to explain his multiple failures, Guinasso burbled, “I think there’s a reluctance of men… especially men who are willing to buy sex.”

Nice try. But here’s another inconvenient truth: Guinasso’s initiative to ban brothels in Lyon County last year was crushed at the ballot box, 80-20 percent.

Now, truth be told, I haven’t looked at the census numbers for Lyon County. But I’m willing to bet it’s not made up of 80% men and 20% women!

Lance Gilman, owner of the Mustang Ranch in rural Storey County, defended Nevada’s legal brothels against Guinasso’s and Charleston’s ridiculous claim that they “encourage trafficking.”

“The reason the ladies come to legal brothels primarily is because they are safer,” Gilman said. “If they are on the illegal side of the industry, in any city in the nation… and they’re there everywhere… there’s really no safety from the predators.”

EXACTLY.

In fact, FOX Business published a story just a couple weeks ago about “rampant sex trafficking” in Atlanta that took place in well-established hotel chain franchises, including Red Roof, La Quinta and Extended Stay.

In a lawsuit recently filed against the hotel chains, four unidentified women – including two who say they were underage at the time – allege that hotel employees “were paid by traffickers to turn a blind eye” to what was going on and “act as lookouts for the Johns.”

From the FOX report…

“In Chamblee, a victim at the Suburban Extended Stay told an employee she had been attacked ‘in an attempt to escape,’ the suit alleges, but the worker relayed the information to the trafficker – who then assaulted the woman for doing so.

“At La Quinta Inn in Alpharetta, a victim was beaten so viciously by her John over the course of six hours that blood riddled the walls and surrounding areas of the hotel room, the suit states.”

Please, Mr. Guinasso and Ms. Charleston-Dean-Wilson, explain how forcing these women to work illegally in Atlanta is safer for women than working in a legal brothel? And especially the fact that the legal and regulated system PREVENTS underage girls from working in them.

Or, closer to home, consider this story by Michelle Rindels of the Nevada Independent last month…

“Sandy Anderson, director of the Nevada State Board of Massage Therapy… believes that among the nearly 1,000 licensed establishments in the state, about 25 in the Reno area and 150-200 in the Las Vegas area may be fostering illegal prostitution or sex trafficking activity.”

And that comes on the heels of this report a week earlier by Rio Lacanlale of the Las Vegas Review-Journal…

“The FBI recently rescued 14 child sex trafficking victims and arrested 33 suspected traffickers in Las Vegas, the highest total in the U.S. during a nationwide sweep in July known as Operation Independence Day.”

Which came out just a few days after this story by Sabrina Schnur of the Las Vegas Review-Journal…

“Two men were arrested in July on domestic battery and sex trafficking charges in Las Vegas after punching their girlfriends, who both admitted to being prostitutes working for the men, according to police reports.”

One of the women reported that her trafficker, Wesley Cherry, “had forced her to work as a prostitute for the past five years and she wanted to get away from him.” In retaliation, he “hit her in the face and broke her phone.”

“If she did not work, she told police, ‘Cherry would become violent with her by choking her and slamming her on the ground.’

“It was just easier to place the ads online and go out and perform sexual acts for money than to deal with the beatings,” she told police.

Note again: Brothels are NOT legal in Reno and Las Vegas. Yet that clearly hasn’t stopped prostitution, violence against women and sex trafficking – including of minors – in those communities.

It’s almost as if “prohibition” doesn’t work.

Yet Guinasso, Charleston-Dean-Wilson and other prohibitionists continue their crusade to outlaw the handful of legal brothels in rural Nevada where the women are grown adults who freely choose to work there and are exceedingly safe.

During the 2019 legislative session, the Legislature approved an interim study of the working conditions at Nevada’s legal brothels. Fair enough.

But if the brothel study committee REALLY wants to protect the health, safety and welfare of women in the commercial sex industry in Nevada, it ought to expand its examination to the working conditions for women working where brothels remain illegal.

THAT’S where the real problems lie.

Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, a limited-government grassroots advocacy organization, and government affairs counsel to the Nevada Brothel Association. His views are his own.

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Suzette Cole, CEO, Moonlite Bunny Ranch

“Prostitution is the oldest profession and will not go away. Nevada has been doing it right since 1971 when we took it out of the criminal’s hands and put it into a highly-regulated industry. As an added benefit, there has never been a case of HIV/AIDS in the history of legal brothels here…and you can’t say that about any other profession in the United States.”

John Stossel, Syndicated Columnist

“We don’t have to cheer for prostitution, or think it’s nice, to keep government out of it and let participants make up their own minds. It’s wrong to ban sex workers’ options just to make ourselves feel better.”

Steve Chapman, Syndicated Columnist

“Prohibition doesn’t eliminate the harms generally associated with prostitution, such as violence, human trafficking and disease. On the contrary, it fosters them by driving the business underground.”

Christina Parreira, UNLV Researcher/Sex Worker

“Sex work is my CHOICE. I’d like to continue to have the opportunity to make that choice legally. We don’t need protection. We’re consenting, adult women.”

New York Assemblyman Richard Gottfried

“Trying to stop sex work between consenting adults should not be the business of the criminal justice system.”

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker

“Yes, sex work should be decriminalized. As a general matter, I don’t believe that we should be criminalizing activity between consenting adults, and especially when doing so causes even more harm for those involved.”

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders

“I think the idea of legalizing prostitution is something that should be considered…(and) certainly needs to be discussed.”

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris

“When you’re talking about consenting adults, I think that, yes, we should really consider that we can’t criminalize consensual behavior, as long as no one is being harmed. … We should not be criminalizing women who are engaged in consensual opportunities for employment.”

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren

“I believe humans should have autonomy over their own bodies and they get to make their own decisions.”

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard

“If a consenting adult wants to engage in sex work, that is their right, and it should not be a crime. All people should have autonomy over their bodies and their labor.”

Gov. John Hickenlooper

“Legalizing prostitution and regulating it, so there are norms and protections and we understand more clearly how people are being treated and make sure we prevent abuse, I think it should be really looked at.”

Mike Gravel, former Alaska Senator

“Sex workers are workers, and they deserve the dignity and respect that every worker deserves. For too long, we’ve denied them that. Sex workers, not politicians, should lead the way in crafting sex work policy.”

Prof. Ronald Weitzer, George Washington University:

“Unlike illegal street prostitution in many other places, Nevada’s legal brothels do not disturb public order, create nuisances, or negatively impact local communities in other ways. Instead, they provide needed tax revenue for cash-strapped rural towns.”

Prof. Barbara Brents, UNLV author, “State of Sex”:

“Teams of scholars…have concluded that Nevada’s legal brothels provide a far safer environment for sex workers than the criminalized system in the rest of the United States.”

Prof. Sarah Blithe, UNR author, “Sex and Stigma”:

“Discussions of legal prostitution are rife with misinformation. Academic work and popular press publications alike often conflate legal prostitution in the United States with illegal prostitution.”

Lee Herz Dixon:

“Do I think eradicating legal prostitution from all Nevada counties will erase the practice of the oldest profession in the state, or break the nexus of drugs, crime, and exploitation of the vulnerable? I do not.”

Journalist Michael Cernovich:

“It’s empirically proven that criminalizing sex work allows children to be sex trafficked more readily as they are afraid to turn to authorities and wonder if they will be arrested.”

Enrique Carmona:

“We need to put aside moralistic prejudices, whether based on religion or an idealistic form of feminism, and figure out what is in the best interests of the sex workers and public interest as well.”

Ruby Rae, professional courtesan

“In the brothels, we have the choice, always, to say which clients we will say yes and no to. We have staff that would never let a man hurt us, and we have a clientele that do not come here to hurt us.”

Kiki Lover, professional courtesan:

“We are human beings who chose to do sex work on our own free will. We get treated with respect and like family at the brothels. It’s a job just like any other job. We sell a service that all humans need.”

Paris Envy, professional courtesan:

“I’m not ‘exploited.’ I’m not ‘trafficked.’ I’m not ‘brainwashed.’ I don’t need to be ‘saved.’ I’ve freely chosen this line of work, which is a legal, private transaction between consenting adults.”

Alice Little, professional courtesan:

“It’s ILLEGAL sex work that exploits children. It’s ILLEGAL sex work that traffics. It’s ILLEGAL sex work that sees women exploited and abused by pimps.”

Jim Shedd, Nevadan

“Prostitution should be licensed, regulated, taxed like any other service industry. There are many single or widowed men and women who should be able to take advantage of such services provided by consenting adults for consenting adults. Let’s act to at least reduce illegal sex trafficking and other sex crimes by creating safe and legal outlets for paying adults who wish to use them.”

Paul Bourassa, brothel customer:

“Some people are just never given a chance in the dating scene, so brothels offer those of us with no experience a chance to learn what it’s like to be on a date.”

Lewis Dawkins, brothel customer:

“It’s not always about sex. Little compliments and encouragements offered by the ladies help build my self-confidence. It’s a business, yes. But the ladies care personally about their clients. That means a lot.”

Brett Caton, brothel customer:

“I think brothels provide an important function in society. Legal ones give a safe outlet to their customers and for some men it is the only way they get so much as a hug.”

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Mission

The Nevada Brothel Association PAC is a coalition of legal brothel owners, brothel workers, brothel clients and brothel supporters dedicated to defending a woman’s right to choose professional sex work as a career, protecting the public’s health and safety, and preserving Nevada’s rich live-and-let-live heritage.